1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front structure of a fuel cell vehicle.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-072882, filed Mar. 16, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, fuel cell vehicles have been developed. The fuel cell vehicle has a fuel cell for generating electric power due to an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen as a fuel gas and oxygen as an oxidant gas, and runs by driving a motor using the generated power.
In such a fuel cell vehicle, structural elements of the fuel cell are disposed under the floor in a central part of the vehicle, so as to provide safety in consideration of a vehicle collision (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publications Nos. 2004-122972 and 2003-182378). However, when arranging the fuel cell and the like under the floor of the vehicle, the total height of the vehicle is increased, or the height of the interior of the vehicle needs to be decreased. Therefore, it is difficult to use a common frame (or platform) with vehicles employing an internal combustion engine. In addition, restrictions also occur in terms of design or convenient use of the vehicle, so that it is difficult to design or develop a vehicle suitable for individual use, and thus improvement with respect to such a problem has been required.
In consideration of the above situation, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H08-192639 discloses a structure for installing the fuel cell in a front portion of an electric vehicle. In this structure, when a vehicle collision occurs, an energy absorption part of a side frame member is deformed so as to bend and protrude upward, and a storage case which contains the fuel cell is also bent and deformed toward the same direction as that of the energy absorption part. Accordingly, the fuel cell is divided into two parts along the center layer in the stack structure of the fuel cell, so that it is ruptured and absorbs part of the collision energy.
However, in the structure disclosed in H08-192639, the fuel cell is positively deformed so as to allow the side frame to absorb the collision energy, which may cause hydrogen leakage from the fuel cell or high-voltage current leakage. Therefore, it is difficult to provide safety with respect to a vehicle collision.